Funded by the Government of Canada through Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). 17 May 2022, Islamabad – United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Officer Pakistan (COPAK) in collaboration with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched today, an awareness raising campaign on the risks and challenges of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) in Pakistan. It targets relevant stakeholders including law enforcement, media, academia, civil society organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs) and relevant government departments and the public in general, to strengthen in-country Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) prevention and response capacity.

The campaign is being implemented with the financial support of the Government of Canada through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). It will include publishing and distributing awareness brochures and pamphlets, streamers, banners, airing of public service messages on radio and social media accounts as well as mobile Short Messaging Service (SMS) to increase awareness of risks, issues, and challenges related to TIP and SOM.
E-mail: unic.islamabad@unic.org, Web: www.pakistan.un.org While talking to the particpants, Dr. Jeremy Milsom, UNODC Representative, Pakistan, commented, “According to UNODC’s 2020 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, Criminals trafficking children target victims from extremely poor households, dysfunctional families, or those who are
abandoned with no parental care. In low-income countries, children make up half of the victims detected and are mainly trafficked for forced labor (46 percent). In higher-income countries, trafficking crimes against children may
also be for sexual exploitation, forced criminality or begging. Mr. Ashraf Zubair Siddiqui, Additional Director General, Immigration FIA welcomed the dignitaries and said “The Government of Pakistan is acutely aware and stands fully committed to its international obligations to combat these inhuman and terrible crimes. FIA, as the lead agency against these crimes, has developed and maintained excellent relations with its international partners in general and UNODC in specific which is an abundant demonstration of our commitment. The FIA is grateful in receiving the support from UNODC to capacity building of agency in serious organized crime such as human trafficking and migrant smuggling, in policy and legislative reforms, trainings, equipment, research and development and international cooperation.”

He further added, “FIA and UNODC hold a solid and long history of cooperation in the fight against TIP and SOM. In 2018, together with UNODC two laws on TIP and SOM were passed by the parliament followed by the approval of
implementing rules in early 2021. The National Action Plan to combat TIP and SOM (2021-2025) was also drafted with the support of UNODC, which provides a clear guideline of what steps we must take during the next five years.
“The awareness campaign launched today will help to protect the most vulnerable from being preyed upon by human traffickers and migrant smugglers. This campaign will help ensure that information reaches those in
most need and enable civil society, policymakers, government officials to work together to help prevent and respond to these crimes. Canada will continue to work alongside our partners, such as the Government of Pakistan, the
UNODC, in fighting trafficking and smuggling operations. These efforts will also support safe migration, and increasing awareness is a critical component E-mail: unic.islamabad@unic.org, Web: www.pakistan.un.org
of that.”, Mr. Matthew Ciavaglia Representative Canadian High Commission to Pakistan.

The campaign will be implemented nationwide in close partnership with the FIA and other relevant stakeholders. Civil Society will be a key partner in this process as UNODC understands that the government and civil society must
work in close partnership to fight human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The way to succeed in this fight is through a joint effort to raise awareness of these crimes among a much broader mass of relevant stakeholders. This campaign is important as it combines both prevention and protection strategies, which will support civil society organizations in their efforts to help potential victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants.

For more information about the UNODC awareness Raising Campaign, please
contact
Ms. Rizwana Rahool,
Communication Officer;
Mobile: +923018564255;
Fax: + 92-51-2601469;
Email: rizwana.asad@un.org
E-mail: unic.islamabad@unic.org, Web: www.pakistan.un.org
UNICEF
PRESS RELEASE
World a ‘virtual tinderbox’ for catastrophic levels of
severe malnutrition in children – UNICEF
Soaring food prices driven by the war in Ukraine and pandemic-fuelled budget
cuts set to drive up both need for, and cost of life-saving therapeutic food
treatment, the latter by up to 16 per cent
Multimedia content available to download here
NEW YORK, 17 May 2022 — The number of children with severe wasting was
rising even before war in Ukraine threatened to plunge the world deeper into a
spiralling global food crisis – and it’s getting worse, UNICEF warned in a new
Child Alert.
Released today, Severe wasting: An overlooked child survival emergency
shows that in spite of rising levels of severe wasting in children and rising costs
for life-saving treatment, global financing to save the lives of children suffering
from wasting is also under threat.
“Even before the war in Ukraine placed a strain on food security worldwide,
conflict, climate shocks and COVID-19 were already wreaking havoc on
families’ ability to feed their children,” said UNICEF Executive Director
Catherine Russell. “The world is rapidly becoming a virtual tinderbox of
preventable child deaths and child suffering from wasting.”
Currently, at least 10 million severely wasted children – or 2 in 3 – do not have
access to the most effective treatment for wasting, ready-to-use therapeutic
food (RUTF). UNICEF warns that a combination of global shocks to food
security worldwide – led by the war in Ukraine, economies struggling with
pandemic recovery, and persistent drought conditions in some countries due
to climate change – are creating conditions for a significant increase in global
levels of severe wasting.
Meanwhile, the price of ready-to-use therapeutic food is projected to increase
by up to 16 per cent over the next six months due to a sharp rise in the cost of
raw ingredients. This could leave up to 600,000 additional children without
E-mail: unic.islamabad@unic.org, Web: www.pakistan.un.org
access to life-saving treatment at current spending levels. Shipping and
delivery costs are also expected to remain high.
“For millions of children every year, these sachets of therapeutic paste are the
difference between life and death. A sixteen per cent price increase may sound
manageable in the context of global food markets, but at the end of that supply
chain is a desperately malnourished child, for whom the stakes are not
manageable at all,” said Russell.
Severe wasting – where children are too thin for their height resulting in
weakened immune systems – is the most immediate, visible and lifethreatening form of malnutrition. Worldwide, at least 13.6 million children under
five suffer from severe wasting, resulting in 1 in 5 deaths among this age group.
South Asia remains the ‘epicentre’ of severe wasting, where roughly 1 in 22
children is severely wasted, twice as high as sub-Saharan Africa. And across
the rest of the world, countries are facing historically high rates of severe
wasting. In Afghanistan, for example, 1.1 million children are expected to suffer
from severe wasting this year, nearly double the number in 2018. Drought in
the Horn of Africa means the number of children with severe wasting could
quickly rise from 1.7 million to 2 million, while a 26 per cent increase is
predicted in the Sahel compared to 2018.
The Child Alert also notes that even countries in relative stability, such as
Uganda, have seen a 40 per cent or more increase in child wasting since 2016,
due to rising poverty and household food insecurity causing inadequate quality
and frequency of diets for children and pregnant women. Climate-related
shocks including severe cyclical drought and inadequate access to clean water
and sanitation services are contributing to the rising numbers.
The report goes on to warn that aid for wasting remains woefully low and is
predicted to decline sharply in the coming years, with little hope of recovering
to pre-pandemic levels before 2028. According to a new analysis for the brief,
global aid spent on wasting amounts to just 2.8 per cent of the total health
sector ODA (Official Development Assistance) and 0.2 per cent of total ODA
spending.
To reach every child with life-saving treatment for severe wasting, UNICEF is
calling for:
E-mail: unic.islamabad@unic.org, Web: www.pakistan.un.org
• Governments to increase wasting aid by at least 59 per cent above 2019
ODA levels to help reach to help reach all children in need of treatment
in 23 high burden countries.
• Countries to include treatment for child wasting under health and longterm development funding schemes so that all children can benefit from
treatment programmes, not just those in humanitarian crisis settings.
• Ensure that budget allocations to address the global hunger crisis include
specific allocations for therapeutic food interventions to address the
immediate needs of children suffering from severe wasting.
• Donors and civil society organizations to prioritize funding for wasting to
ensure a diverse, growing and a healthy ecosystem of donor support.
“There is simply no reason why a child should suffer from severe wasting – not
when we have the ability to prevent it. But there is precious little time to reignite
a global effort to prevent, detect and treat malnutrition before a bad situation
gets much, much worse,” said Russell.
Notes to Editors
About RUTF
Ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) paste is a lipid-based energy dense,
micronutrient paste, using a mixture of peanuts, sugar, oil, and milk powder,
packaged in individual sachets. UNICEF, the global leader in RUTF
procurement, purchases and distributes an estimated 75-80 per cent of the
world’s supply from over 20 manufacturers located across the world.
About ODA
Official development assistance (ODA) is government aid that promotes and
specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing
countries. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adopted ODA as the
main instrument of foreign aid in 1969 and it remains the main source of
financing for development aid. ODA data is collected, verified and made
publicly available by the OECD.
For further information, please contact:
Helen Wylie, UNICEF New York, Tel: +1 917 244 2215, hwylie@unicef.org
E-mail: unic.islamabad@unic.org, Web: www.pakistan.un.org
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s
most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories,
we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children visit
www.unicef.org
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